Outreach

Williams Lab News

3rd Annual Bates College Darwin Day: February 12, 2016
On February 10, 2017, 38 students from the the 21st Century after-school program at Lewiston Middle School joined 14 Bates College undergraduates and Biology, Biochemistry, and Education for the afternoon to celebrate Darwin Day. We had a great time and can’t wait for next year!

Bird coloring station

Larissa speaks about her research to Lewiston High School students, May 2016

Larissa recently spoke to AP chemistry students from Lewiston High School about her research on zebrafish. Students were able to tour the lab, as well as the zebrafish colony and learn about research opportunities for undergraduates at Bates College.

2nd Annual Bates College Darwin Day: February 12, 2016
On February 12, 2016, 21 students from the the 21st Century after-school program at Lewiston Middle School joined 18 Bates College undergraduates and Biology three faculty for the afternoon to celebrate Darwin Day.

Joined by Profs. Williams, Whittaker, and Levitis, Bates undergraduates ran six interactive stations for Lewiston middle school students to learn about evolution. At the end of the day, everyone enjoyed a Darwin cake from Grant’s bakery. The Helicase Biology student club, and especially its President Peter Cottingham, were especially influential in this endeavor. Can’t wait for next year!

Bates-SMCC Short Course: August 2015Larissa and Travis Gould (Assistant Professor in Physics and Astronomy) will co-teach a Maine INBRE short course for SMCC students and faculty from August 17–21, 2015, in which six students and two SMCC faculty will join us to explore the use of confocal microscopy in the biomedical sciences. This one week, hands-on and hypothesis driven course will cover basic light and confocal imaging as well as basic molecular biology through the use of lecture and hands-on experience on a Leica Sp8 white light laser confocal microscope to study the development of a particular set of neuronal cells, called retinal ganglion cells (RGCs),in the zebrafish.

Inaugural Bates College Darwin Day: February 13, 2015
On February 13, 2015, 30 students from the the 21st Century after-school program at Lewiston Middle School joined 15 Bates College undergraduates for the afternoon to celebrate Darwin Day.

Through a variety of hands-on activities, middle schoolers were able to learn about evolution, Darwin, and the Galapagos. We look forward to an even bigger event next year!

Bates-SMCC Short Course: August 2014Larissa and Nancy Kleckner (Associate Professor in Biology and Neuroscience) will co-teach a Maine INBRE short course for SMCC students and faculty from August 11–22, 2014, in which six students and four SMCC faculty will join us to explore phenotypic plasticity in the teleost fish, Fundulus heteroclitus, using molecular and imaging techniques. Next year, we will offer another molecular and imaging workshop for SMCC, focusing on the zebrafish biomedical model. In Years 3-5 of the INBRE grant, one faculty-student team from Bates and one faculty-student team from SMCC will collaborate on a research project. We anticipate that interactions during the short courses in years 1 and 2 will facilitate making connections between faculty for these collaborations. Collaborations will begin with a 2-month summer research experience at Bates College, with Bates and SMCC students in residence at Bates, and it is expected that the collaboration will continue during the subsequent academic year on the students’ respective campuses.

Bates-SMCC Workshop: August 2013Larissa and Nancy Kleckner (Associate Professor in Biology and Neuroscience) co-taught a pilot workshop at Bates from August 19 – 23, 2013, in which four SMCC faculty joined us in laboratory research designed to expose SMCC faculty to cutting edge techniques in molecular biology and cellular/organismal imaging. This workshop will set the stage for INBRE and NSF funded collaborations among Bates and SMCC faculty and students over the succeeding five years, the first of which will be offered from August 11-22, 2014. A Bates Faculty Development Fund Grant has made this workshop possible.

Larissa wrote a blog post for STRICTLYFISHWRAP about incorporating artistic creativity into her upper-level science course during the Winter Term of 2013.